Early Television  
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Mechanical Television

W2XAB/W2XAX/WCBW - CBS, New York

 

Mechanical Television

W2XAB began transmission in 1931 using equipment furnished by RCA. Their inaugural broadcast was on July 21, 1931. The camera was a 60 line flying spot scanner, and the receivers operated in the 2-3 mHz band, where reception was possible over long distances.

  • Article in the AWA Journal by Richard Brewster
  • Radio World 1932 article
  • Article in the Cincinnati Radio Dial
  • Television and Sound - Radio News, November 1932
  • Natalie Towers, Columbia's Television Girl
  • Latest Television Broadcast Station
    • To make text larger in single column tables. To make text larger in single column tables. To make text larger in single column tables

Early Television

Early Television

The transmitter and the Supervisor's desk.

Early Television

The W2XAB studio, showing the photocells and a microphone. The scanner is in a separate room behind the hole in the middle of the photocells.

Early Television

 Early Television

The camera, with Natalie Towers in front of it

Early Television

Early Television

Glass photographic plate from about 1931

 

Electronic Television

In 1937 the station began broadcasting electronic TV on channel 3 as W2XAX.. In 1941 the call sign was changed to WCBW, and after the war, it became WCBS. A transmitter and antenna were put on the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, while the studios were located in the Grand Central building.

Program schedules
The W2XAX Television Transmitter
CBS Screens Out Electrical "Bugs"
Changed Specifications Delay Television Start
What Television Means to You - Radio News, May 1938
Television in New York - Radio News, January 1939
CBS Transmitter Installation

Early Television

Early Television

 

Early Television

Early Television

Early Television

Early Television

Early Television

Early Television

 

Worthington Miner, left, directing. Notice the huge number of fluorescent lights directly over the set

Courtesy of Steve Dichter 

Early Television

The control room in 1941 control room, with pioneer CBS director Worthington Miner, center, at the microphone

Courtesy of Steve Dichter

Early Television

Early Television

First U.S. broadcast of a jazz group on W2XAB (1939)

Early Television

 

 

Early Television

 Early Television

 

Early Television

Courtesy of John Pinckney

 

Early Television

Program schedule for Jan. 29, 1942

Television programs of the Columbia Broadcasting System go on the air Thursdays over WCBW on channel 2. Test patterns from 7:30 to 8 o'clock are followed by films until 10 P.M. This schedule will be continued indefinitely, according to director Worthington Miner, as long as the available materials and manpower hold out. Technical manpower shortages, he said, are the most pressing need and will determine WCBW's future.

For those who have home television receivers not in operating condition, the service outlook is "something less than bright." Skilled men are not available to "fix" ailing sets; neither are replacement materials. It is therefore estimated that the 1,000 to 2,000 receivers now inoperative in this area are likely to remain so indefinitely. This is the only "bad" news current in television circles.

New York Times, October 17, 1943

Early Television

CBS studio, 1944

Early Television

CBS studio, 1944

Early Television

1945

 

 


 
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